New Display at the Jane Austen House Museum

The dining room wall at the Jane Austen House museum at Chawton Cottage is exhibiting a new explanatory display of Sense and Sensibility. The novel celebrated its 200 year anniversary in 2011.The designs were based on the coloured illustrations by the brothers, Charles Edmund ( C. E.) and Henry Matthew (H. M.) Brock of Cambridge. These were included in the 1908 edition of the novel published by Dent and Company.

Click on image to read the text. Then click on link to see other images.

Information about the display sits on the new The Jane Austen's House Museum blog, written by Julie Wakefield, author of Austenonly.

Chawton Cottage: A Visit in the Round

This YouTube video shows the room in which Jane Austen show in great detail. One gets the sense of the size and proportion of the room and where Jane's little writing table is located in relation to the door. She sat next to the window, where she could look outside, and facing the door, able to see a visitor even as she was stashing her writing away.

There are five videos of Chawton Cottage taken by gaianka76.

Jane Austen Trip Throwdown

Scenario: You are in London for a week-long vacation, and you have only one full day planned for a tour outside of Town. Where would you book your visit?

Steventon Church. Image @Tony Grant

• Steventon, Jane Austen's childhood home and the place of her birth, where she wrote her Junvenilia, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey? You can still enter the church where she was christened and attended Sunday service.

The landing on the stairs just outside Jane's bedroom in Chawton Cottage.
Image @Tony Grant

• Chawton House and Chawton Cottage, where she wrote her mature novels Emma, Persuasion, and Mansfield Park? The Jane Austen House Museum is located here.

Candle snuffer, Bath. Image @Tony Grant

• Bath, a city she disliked but featured in Northanger Abbey and Persuasion? The Jane Austen Centre is located on Gay Street where she once lived.

Winchester Cathedral. Image @Tony Grant

• Winchester and Winchester Cathedral, where she spent her last days and was buried.

I'd take a day-long excursion to
	Steventon
	Chawton
	Bath
	Winchester
pollcode.com free polls

Snow at Chawton and Chawton Cottage

Gentle readers, Tony Grant from London Calling and contributor to this blog and Jane Austen's World shot these beautiful images during last week's snow in England. We see so many pictures of Chawton and Chawton Cottage in spring and summer with tourists all around. One can hear the silence in this waning light. Just lovely.

Village street (with Chawton Cottage at left). Image @Tony Grant

Chawton Cottage side door. Image @Tony Grant

Chawton Cottage sign. Image @Tony Grant

Across the fields. Image @Tony Grant

Chawton grounds in snow. Image @Tony Grant

Chawton fields with Chawton House in the distance. Image @Tony Grant

Chawton House grounds. Image @Tony Grant

To Chawton House. Image @Tony Grant

Chawton House in golden light. Image @Tony Grant

Read more:

• Jane Austen's House Museum
• Chawton House Library
• Chawton House on Twitter
• Reading, writing and Emma, by Dr. Gillian Dow of the Chawton House Library

A Virtual Visit to Chawton Cottage

Jane Austen spent her most productive years writing in Chawton Cottage, the house her brother Edward supplied to his two sisters and mother. This video is more about Jane's life in the cottage than of the legend of her benevolent ghost. The narrator mentions two jarring facts: that she was content to live a simple life (popular perception is that she was always worried about money) and that she died of cancer. Other than that, this video provides an excellent view of the gardens that surround the house and of its rooms.



The next video shows a different perspective of the cottage, with few duplications of the first video. One is more aware than ever of how small the rooms are in this house.



The third, very short video is of her bedroom. You can hear the creaking of the floor boards. Jane and Cassandra slept in separate but identical twin beds.



And the fourth video is of her bed with the quilt she made covering it. Click here to view it.

Copy of a quilt Jane was working on in a side bedroom in Chawton Cottage.

For a photographic visit of Chawton Cottage, click on this post by Tony Grant on London Calling.

View from Jane's window by Keith Mallet

Keith Mallet wrote a beautiful post about the view from Jane's window.

Jane Austen Throwdown

The settings that Jane Austen chose for her characters were important to her plot. Much of Northanger Abbey was set in Bath, Elizabeth and the Gardiners traveled to Derbyshire where Pemberley lay, Lydia got into trouble in Brighton, and Box Hill, where Emma was so rude to Miss Bates, is set in Surrey.

We now ask you to choose two of your favorite Jane Austen locations. Bath or London? Steventon Rectory or Chawton Cottage?

Two of Your Favorite Jane Austen Locations

Bath, an ancient city, whose Roman Baths and drinking waters attracted rich and poor alike. It was said that more doctors and apothecaries were licensed in Bath than any other city in Great Britain.

London, the largest city in Europe in Jane's day. She would visit her brother, Henry, who lived in town and acted as her agent. Jane most particularly liked London's parks and gardens, and would frequent the shops, bringing back items for her family.

pollcode.com free polls

Bath or London?

Bath London

Steventon Rectory. Jane spent most of her childhood in Steventon Rectory. Here is where she learned to write, and where her close-knit family nurtured her talent. When she learned that her parents had made plans to move to Bath and from a home she loved, Jane fainted.

Chawton Cottage was refurbished by Jane's rich brother Edward, who invited her, Cassandra, and Mrs. Austen to live there. Jane spent her most productive writing years during her time in Chawton, revising Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Northanger Abbey, and writing Emma, Persuasion, and Mansfield Park. She began Sanditon there, completing 11 chapters before succumbing to her fatal illness.

pollcode.com free polls

Steventon Rectory or Chawton Cottage?

Steventon Rectory Chawton Cottage

Jane Austen: Seen on the Blogosphere

Sally Lunn's Buns: A Recipe

Jean from The Delightful Repast shared her recipe for Sally Lunn's Buns on Jane Austen's World, and a short history of tea during Jane Austen's era. Jean's version of the bun is smaller than the behemoths one can obtain in Bath, but they are tasty nevertheless!

Lemon Cake With Lime Curd and Pomegranate Topping

This recipe sounds delicious, and comes courtesy of JASNA New Jersey via Facebook.

Emma 2008 Walllpaper: Quite lovely. Click on this link to download it.

A Visit to Jane Austen's House

M.E. Foley visited Jane Austen's House and wrote an interesting blog post about it, publishing a large number of pictures. Not to be outdone, our very own Tony Grant posted his thoughts about his visit to Chawton Cottage on his own blog, London Calling. Mark Whitfield Photography visited Jane Austen's house as well and interestingly concentrates on two prints of the era instead of interior shots. I love these personal bogs posts and photos from different perspectives.

Fireplace in Jane Austen's bedroom at Chawton Cottage, taken by Tony Grant. Jane and her sister, Cassandra, shared the bedroom, and one can imagine them chatting at night near the warmth and light of the fire.

Jane Austen's House Slide Show

PBS Masterpiece Classic's site keeps offering up gems for Jane Austen lovers. Click on this link to see a slide show of Jane Austen's house, including a peek into her kitchen and the bedroom she shared with her sister Cassandra.

The Jane Austen House Museum Gets a Grand Make-over

The Jane Austen House Museum at Chawton in Hampshire has under gone a big renovation in honor of the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's move to the village. A grand re-opening was celebrated by the community on July 5th. Visitors will now see a newly renovated interior, restoration of the Austen kitchen and a new learning center which features an audio-visual presentation of the life of Jane Austen, her family and her works.

Austen lived at Chawton Cottage from 1809-1817, and all of her six major novels were either revised or written there. You can read further about how this special home inspired her to continue writing after a ten year lapse, and its significance to Janeites at The Jane Austen House Museum Celebrates 200th Anniversary of the Author's Arrival at Chawton at Austenprose.

Cheers, Laurel Ann, Austenprose

Seen On the Blogosphere

Can we ever get enough of Mr. Darcy? Here's a recent Q&A with Colin Firth! Then, good news: Colin has completed several new movies. Bad news: he'd like to take a long break. Read the interview here.

If you want to experience British humor and banter at its best, this Q&A with Colin and Rupert Everett will have you ROFLing and chuckling.

In a recent article about Chawton Cottage, Sarah Brubaker from the Star Telegram raves about a visit to Jane's home, which is now a fascinating museum.